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Taipei is among the globe's rudest, says `Reader's Digest'

When was the last time you said your pleases and thank yous? Well, if you're a Taipei resident, chances are you haven't said them in a while, according to Reader's Digest magazine.

The US-based magazine conducted a survey of 35 cities around the world recently, probing the politeness of each city's residents. Ranking 29th overall, Taipei turned up at the bottom of the list, with just six other cities considered ruder. And when it came to "document drops," one of the three tests Reader's Digest reporters used to score politeness, Taipei came in 31st, with only four other cities scoring worse. That test involved a reporter "accidently" dropping a stack of papers in public and seeing if anybody would help pick them up.

Luckily, Taipei fared better on the "service tests" in which the reporters observed whether sales clerks would thank buying customers. The survey also consisted of "door tests" (observing if people tended to hold the door for others), which Taipei flunked as well.

The good news is Taipei is not alone -- of the 10 Asian cities surveyed, including Taipei, none scored above 50 percent (New York was ranked the politest city with a score of 90 percent). Singapore and Seoul were ranked 31st and 32nd respectively.

Among the politer cities, Sao Paulo, Brazil, which ranked fifth, is so courteous that even blackmarket vendors are mindful to thank their customers before running away from the police.

The survey also discovered that there seemed to be an odd correlation between wealth and courtesy. A Reader's Digest reporter in Johannesburg, South Africa, for instance, noticed that the nicer people dressed, the fewer courtesies they extended to strangers.

Seasoned diplomat Loh I-cheng (陸以正) refused to concede that Taipei measures high on the global rude-o-meter, saying, "I'm not buying this."

Although Loh, now retired, did admit that Taipei residents could be nicer, he said that of the many locales he has traveled to in his career -- including all of the cities the Reader's Digest surveyed except four -- Taipei was one of the most civil.

Radio Taiwan International talkshow host Andrew Ryan agreed, saying that the survey was flawed because it was based on Western standards of courtesy.

"The generosity and respect that the Taiwanese show to guests -- the way mass rail transit [MRT] passengers give up their seats for each other, the men holding women's bags for them. These are all acts of courtesy that Westerners would do well to learn from the Taiwanese," Ryan said.
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